Old Glory Underwear Audit @ Hyperallergic
As a racist, misogynist, possibly treasonous, and definitely unqualified non-politician approaches his inauguration as president of the United States, artists are scrambling for political leverage by any means available. According to artist Coralina Meyer, to find material for political action, women need look no farther than our own drawers.
Under the moniker Lambastic — the name she uses when working collaboratively, in a satirical style — Meyer has issued a call on Facebook and via word of mouth, seeking contributions of used women’s underwear. This is the Old Glory Underwear Audit: the artist and her collaborators will sew all the submissions into a series of “Cunt Quilts,” which she plans to continue assembling on a quarterly basis for at least four years, or until a woman is elected to the country’s highest office. The first of these works will be flown on the National Mall at the Women’s March on Washington this Saturday, January 21; it will be part of a mass-scale protest against a President-elect who is openly dismissive of and hostile towards women (among many other members of the citizenry).
“My artwork is a ménage a trois between public trauma, intimate memory, and consumer history,” Meyer told Hyperallergic. “Our generation is uniquely positioned as consumers whose political exhaustion from tactical trauma can be transgressed with matrilineal armor. As an artist, it is my job to make hidden histories accessible. The project has multiple phases: the Underwear Audit accounts for our bodies, the Stitch ‘n’ Bitch airs our grievances, and the Cunt Quilt is an association formed.”
Image courtesy of Coralina Meyer